Friday, January 1, 2016

Hello 2016 | A Few Goals and a Word to Live By

Happy New Year!

I am naturally one who likes the idea of new beginnings and having a fresh start. This past week, Chris has been home, and we purposefully kept our days unscheduled and only made plans for dinners. Noah has absolutely loved having Chris home and has been asking him to play nonstop. Noah is usually pretty attached to me and prefers me to do things for him over Chris, but this week the tables turned and Noah was requesting Chris over me on many occasions. While I often like being his "favorite", it was rather nice to sit back and watch the two of them interact so well. Since Noah often couldn't care less what I was doing, it gave me some time to sort through his outgrown clothes, do some purging, and come up with a few goals I have for the new year. Last year, I came up with five goals each month. While I know I will come up with new goals throughout the year, this year I've instead come up with a few goals that I'd like to work on throughout the entire year. 1. Take at least a 1 second video each day so I can compile it into a longer video at the end of the year. I loved how this one turned out!2. Take a photo of Noah outside each month to show the change in the seasons as well as Noah's growth. 3. Purge the junk and be more aware of what I buy and bring back in. 4. Read one book a month. 5. Have a family date night once a month. I'm thinking pizza and a movie at home sounds wonderful! In addition to setting a few goals, I also picked a "word" for 2016. In 2014, I started participating in Ali Edwards "one little world". Each year, you choose one word to focus on, reflect on, and live by. So far I've chosen calm and content as my words. I have found that they were just what I needed each of those years. This year I've decided to choose the word "joy".

For 2016, I'm choosing joy for many reasons. But really, who doesn't need more joy in their life. It's easy to focus on the negative and ignore all the good, but this year I want to focus on the positive and really experience the joy that life has to offer. Noah is at a really fun age and I want to take advantage of that. I want to do fun things as a family. I want to continue our adventures... from larger vacations to simple activities at home.

But even more than that, I want to slow down and find the joy in the everyday mundane. I even want to find the silver lining in the not so good. As Noah gets older I realize that everything is a phase that eventually is outgrown. That each tantrum, bad day, or sleepless night is just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. Before I know it, it will all be over. So instead of being annoyed or hoping the moment will pass, I want to pause and really try to enjoy it all.

And finally, I want to focus on bringing joy to others. I am so blessed with all I have and feel like it's time I start giving back more. I want to go out of my way to be kind to strangers and do random acts of kindness to those that I love. I'm not sure how exactly I will accomplish this (yet), but I know I want to share the joy I have with others.

And I have to say, that how we spent New Year's Eve was the perfect way to start a year off of joy. We usually just stay home, but this year we were invited to celebrate with one of Noah's friends (who also happens to be one of our best friends too). We enjoyed some delicious food, played games and did a craft with the kids, and rang in the new year (using the London countdown on YouTube) with a champagne (and milk) toast. We were home in time for Noah's bed time but still got to enjoy a wonderful New Year's Eve with friends... it was perfect :)

^^^ I am so thankful for this great friendship!

^^^ we had the kids do a "minute to win it" game

^^^ playing Sequence

^^^ and Noah won :)

^^^my friend is an amazing chef and all the food was absolutely delicious!

Here's to a joyful 2016!

Do you choose a word for the year? If so, what will your word be for 2016?

Can't go wrong with joy! I love that you want to use it to pay it forward as well. If you get the iPhone 6s Live Photos are really 3 second videos. It's the perfect way to compile a video at the end of the year!

That's a great word for 2016! I always try to be positive and find the joy in everyday but I love that you want to take it a step further, to share your joy with others via random acts of kindness :) happy 2016,Meghan! Hope it's the best year yet for you!!

Happy New Year, friend! I so want to do the video thing as well. I love to watch the compiled videos like that. Actually, I love all of your goals and would love to do those as well. I love your word for the year. I am still praying about my word. I have two that keep coming to mind and I am hoping to narrow it down soon. What a fun New Years. We stayed home this year because we had been on the go since Christmas. It was quiet, relaxing and nice.

Happy New Year! Love that you chose joy! Such a great word. We have a family movie night every friday evening. We make homemade pizza, pop popcorn, get in our jammies, and watch a movie together. It's pretty awesome!